https://illinoisfoia.org/public-bodies/chicago-public-schools/ 2025-06-13T00:00:00Z https://illinoisfoia.org/opinions/letter-81235/ 2025-06-13T00:00:00Z

The requester sought a school-by-school breakdown of the roughly 77,505 lost or stolen technology devices cited in a CPS Inspector General report, and the district's IT department provided a different, non-matching current dataset instead. The PAC determined that dataset was not responsive, and that the actual responsive records - the raw asset-management data CPS provided to and the OIG analyzed for its report - were properly exempt as inspector-general investigatory records. The district's ult

https://illinoisfoia.org/opinions/letter-81858/ 2024-07-09T00:00:00Z

A requester asked Chicago Public Schools for teacher evaluation data, hoping that removing personal names would make the records public. The Attorney General's office agreed with the school district that these specific evaluation records are protected by law and cannot be released, even if names are removed. Consequently, the PAC closed the case without requiring the district to provide the documents.

https://illinoisfoia.org/opinions/letter-77963/ 2024-06-21T00:00:00Z

A requester asked Chicago Public Schools for emails about an employee's pay. The school district refused to release them, claiming they were part of a legal grievance process. The Attorney General's office disagreed, finding the emails existed independently of the grievance and must be released.

https://illinoisfoia.org/opinions/letter-78983/ 2024-05-30T00:00:00Z

A requester asked Chicago Public Schools for a specific 'Backlog Trend Report' generated by their FOIA software. The school district denied the request, stating that such a report does not exist as a standard document they keep. The Attorney General's office agreed, noting that FOIA does not require agencies to create new records or generate custom reports that they do not already maintain.

https://illinoisfoia.org/opinions/letter-78019/ 2024-01-05T00:00:00Z

A requester asked Chicago Public Schools for educational materials used in gender and sexuality sessions provided by an outside vendor. The school district refused to release the documents, arguing they were proprietary teaching materials. The Attorney General's office reviewed the documents and agreed that the district was legally allowed to keep them private.

https://illinoisfoia.org/opinions/letter-64820/ 2023-01-13T00:00:00Z

A requester asked Chicago Public Schools for legal records and complaints involving their General Counsel. The school district refused to release the documents, arguing that a specific Illinois Supreme Court rule requires these types of records to remain confidential. The Attorney General's office agreed with the district, concluding that the records were properly withheld.

https://illinoisfoia.org/opinions/letter-65306/ 2022-04-19T00:00:00Z

This determination addresses whether Chicago Public Schools (CPS) properly withheld security video footage under FOIA sections 7.5(r) (incorporating the Illinois School Student Records Act), 7(1)(j)(iii) (school disciplinary adjudications), and 7(1)(c) (personal privacy). The Public Access Bureau held that CPS failed to meet its clear-and-convincing-evidence burden under any of the three exemptions to withhold the entire recording: CPS did not confirm the footage became part of a student's educa

https://illinoisfoia.org/opinions/letter-61967/ 2020-11-18T00:00:00Z

A requester asked Chicago Public Schools for specific test data and phone call logs. The Attorney General's office found that the school district followed the law because FOIA only requires agencies to provide existing records, not to create new documents or answer general questions about their operations. The case was closed with no further action required.

https://illinoisfoia.org/opinions/letter-60222/ 2019-11-12T00:00:00Z

A requester asked Chicago Public Schools for five years of disciplinary records for ten different security guards. Because the requester was classified as a 'recurrent requester,' the school district took extra time to process the request, which the requester complained about to the Attorney General. The Attorney General's office reviewed the situation and decided the school district's timeline was acceptable, so they closed the case.

https://illinoisfoia.org/opinions/letter-48297/ 2017-10-03T00:00:00Z

A reporter asked Chicago Public Schools for data showing which grammar schools students came from to attend selective high schools. The school district hid some of the numbers, claiming that showing small groups of students might reveal their identities. The Attorney General's office concluded that the district improperly redacted that information.

https://illinoisfoia.org/opinions/2014-pac-29561/ 2014-08-14T00:00:00Z

The requester sought records from the school district showing proceeds from ticket sales at athletic events during the 2013-2014 school year, along with contracts and eligibility sheets that were resolved separately. The school district failed to respond within the statutory deadline, then claimed it had no uniform way to track ticket revenue and that producing individual schools' paper records would be unduly burdensome. The Illinois Public Access Counselor held that the school district violate

https://illinoisfoia.org/opinions/2012-pac-22708/ 2013-02-21T00:00:00Z

The requester, a journalist, sought a school district's emergency management plans and related records, and the school district never responded at all, either to comply, deny, or extend the deadline within the required five business days. The Public Access Counselor held that the school district's total failure to respond constituted a denial under FOIA, violating both the response-deadline and written-denial-notice requirements. The school district was directed to produce the responsive records